What should they do for the 35th anniversary?.

[Red Ranger 1]

I would be surprised if they got rid of the caravan park, given it's always been a central location.We have had lengthy periods when the house interior hasn't been seen, but it's appeared since the UK Christmas break so it's almost certainly not gone completely: I think they're still overcompensating for all those years when they couldn't show the house exterior!

[Lunar]

Does anyone know if anyone behind the scenes has spoken about the moving away from teen storylines/fostering? I know we can all guess as to why (the demographic isn't there anymore? teens watch streaming shows more instead?), but it'd be nice/interesting to hear it from the writers or showrunners perspective, and where they see the show heading in the future. I really feel like the demographic must still be there to an extent, as a lot of teens run fan accounts and seem to still reply to the H&A account Instagram posts.

[adam436]

20 hours ago, Lunar said:

Does anyone know if anyone behind the scenes has spoken about the moving away from teen storylines/fostering? I know we can all guess as to why (the demographic isn't there anymore? teens watch streaming shows more instead?), but it'd be nice/interesting to hear it from the writers or showrunners perspective, and where they see the show heading in the future. 

  I don't believe they have ever officially given a statement about the direction of the show. Do Lucy Addario and Louise Bowes even do many interviews full stop? 

 

  

20 hours ago, Lunar said:

I really feel like the demographic must still be there to an extent, as a lot of teens run fan accounts and seem to still reply to the H&A account Instagram posts.

I find it strange the age group has been dropped altogether. Even if the primary focus is now the twenty and thirtysomethings, I still would have expected there to be the "token" teen characters. Just like the early years had a small group of 3-4 young adults and a larger group of teens. 

[Homeandawayfan.]

I also feel Emmerdale is another show that ignores its history like H&A does. The show began in 1972 not 1993/1994. ED does not retcon its history as such, just ignores it. They never bring in any new Sugdens, or bring back Sam Skilbeck (Matt and Dolly's son), or any relatives, even distant relatives of Amos, Mr Wilks, Seth etc. Or any pre 1994 characters, apart from Kim Tate in 2018.

Corrie, EastEnders and Neighbours are always bringing back past characters and referencing past events.

[CaptainHulk]

5 hours ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

I also feel Emmerdale is another show that ignores its history like H&A does. The show began in 1972 not 1993/1994. ED does not retcon its history as such, just ignores it. They never bring in any new Sugdens, or bring back Sam Skilbeck (Matt and Dolly's son), or any relatives, even distant relatives of Amos, Mr Wilks, Seth etc. Or any pre 1994 characters, apart from Kim Tate in 2018.

Corrie, EastEnders and Neighbours are always bringing back past characters and referencing past events.

The Skilbecks did get a mention in 2020 (Victoria took a call from Matt) but Victoria had Annie cremated in Norfolk offscreen and Scattered the ashes on those acres when she got back.

But yeah bar Pollard, there's very little left from the "Farm" era.

[Homeandawayfan.]

17 hours ago, CaptainHulk said:

The Skilbecks did get a mention in 2020 (Victoria took a call from Matt) but Victoria had Annie cremated in Norfolk offscreen and Scattered the ashes on those acres when she got back.

But yeah bar Pollard, there's very little left from the "Farm" era.

It also could be due to the high cast turnover and the lack of pre 1994 characters, not necessarily the show's fault. At least Emmerdale does not retcon its history like Neighbours and H&A often do. Ramsay/Tanaka retcons, Dee and Irene/Alf and Martha and Marilyn retcons.

H&A has a number of characters from the first few years such as Alf, Marilyn, Roo, Irene etc.

 

[CaptainHulk]

42 minutes ago, Homeandawayfan. said:

It also could be due to the high cast turnover and the lack of pre 1994 characters, not necessarily the show's fault. At least Emmerdale does not retcon its history like Neighbours and H&A often do. Ramsay/Tanaka retcons, Dee and Irene/Alf and Martha and Marilyn retcons.

H&A has a number of characters from the first few years such as Alf, Marilyn, Roo, Irene etc.

 

Oh no?

They made Terence older than Steph for the abuse story, there was a 3rd Merrick child, Tommy seen in 1972, who was pretty much Xed out when Ruth/Pat and Jackie and Sandie (all with new heads)  came back in 1980.

In 1986, Janie returns for Ruth/Pat's funeral, no mention of Frank Blakey or the kid they were supposed to have had and she's using her maiden name in the credits.

Zak supposedly had another son from his marriage to Nellie, who took off down South. His other daughter Tina is all but forgotten (last mentioned by Mandy in Xmas 2020)

They Had Jack be revealed to have beaten a teenage Robert for one encounter with a boy (off-screen).

So every soap contradicts itself at some point.

 

[c120701]

On 11/02/2023 at 00:29, Red Ranger 1 said:

I would be surprised if they got rid of the caravan park, given it's always been a central location.We have had lengthy periods when the house interior hasn't been seen, but it's appeared since the UK Christmas break so it's almost certainly not gone completely: I think they're still overcompensating for all those years when they couldn't show the house exterior!

I think with the studios being smaller that they were at Epping and the Surf Club / Gym / Salt being pretty big sets we just see less of the houses at times and they use the exteriors where they can to compensate. I wonder if that’s why we don’t see the school now. Even when they have the Police Station and hospital sets up these days they’re pretty big whereas it used to be they could just have tiny sections of them, now even in the smaller sections there is a lot of depth.

[James Martin]

Emmerdale does have some continuity to the past.  Victoria Sudgen is the daughter of Jack and granddaughter of Annie for example.  Matt and Dolly were referenced when Annie died offscreen a few years ago - Victoria went to stay with them.  And when Meena tried to bump her off on that waterfall I seem to recall a reference to being "born with a hole in her heart" when she got to hospital (the baby Victoria spent a while in hospital to cover the recasting of Sarah in 1994).

Elsewhere you've got Jamie Tate, son of Kim & Frank.  Not to mention the very wide Dingle clan.

I haven't watched much recently but I understand Betty has now died offscreen after Paula Tilbrook's death.  I thought she might at least get an onscreen funeral, which Jack got.

Which brings me back to Home & Away - it's outrageous they've never addressed Morag, and it's too late after Cornelia's passing to really do so.  If there's one character who deserved an on screen funeral episode it's her.  In EastEnders and Coronation Street it's almost considered the done thing to have a funeral for the character of a deceased actor by way of a tribute.

But there we are.  As far as Australia is concerned, we're now further away from Episode 4000 than Episode 4000 is from the very beginning.

[Red Ranger 1]

10 hours ago, James Martin said:

I haven't watched much recently but I understand Betty has now died offscreen after Paula Tilbrook's death.  I thought she might at least get an onscreen funeral, which Jack got.

Which brings me back to Home & Away - it's outrageous they've never addressed Morag, and it's too late after Cornelia's passing to really do so.  If there's one character who deserved an on screen funeral episode it's her.  In EastEnders and Coronation Street it's almost considered the done thing to have a funeral for the character of a deceased actor by way of a tribute.

Are you sure? There's nothing on the Emmerdale Wiki about Betty being dead, she seems to have just been quietly forgotten. Not long ago, people got their hopes up about the possibility of Zoe's status finally being addressed, only to be disappointed when they were instead told a guest character from a few years earlier had died. Coronation Street, of course, continues to reference Bill Webster as being alive even though Peter Armitage died in 2018. (The current storyline might be leading up to an off-screen death or they might want to keep him as a convenient character for people to be sent off to visit.)